Elton John Aids Tribute

Tonight was a real treat. I saw the email about the World AIDS Day Gala a few days ago and, heading to Melbourne for the week, asked Colin to organise the tickets. In particular, I was excited to see performances coming up from Tim Draxl, Hayden Tee and Genevieve Lemon, all of whom I’m followed over the last few years in a non-stalkerish kind of way.

The evening started off with Paul Capsis who delivered a stunning performance of “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting”? Did I mention it was a tribute to the work of Elton John. We couldn’t understand a word he said, due to some fluctuation in the sound in the earlier part of the show, but Paul Capsis just delivers, doesn’t he?

Virginia Gay delivered a terrific performance as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. And IOTA came on in a pseudo-Hedwig character, performing “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues”. Tim Draxl was, without doubt, the evening’s standout performer. His interpretation of “I’m Still Standing” as a 1950s swing number was well and truly his own, and was delivered with style and panache. Shauna Jensen, Hayden Tee and (surprisingly) Rob Mills were also terrific. Millsy was a bit of a surprise after his lukewarm performance in Wicked a few weeks back. But he sang tonight with strength and passion.

The only song I was kinda disappointed with was Elton’s Song. It’s such a beautiful song, and possibly Elton’s first song about homosexuality, and one I remember strongly from own adolescence, as it was released when I was about 15 or 16.

The performance was great, the vocalist was wonderful, but I found the dance routine associated with it distracting, not enhancing. I’m not sure we really needed guys in red briefs to illustrate the song, as so much of the emotion comes from the lyric. But that’s just me, I guess.

We had EXCELLENT seats, located in the third row just to the right of the stage, and so had a wonderful experience.